05Duramax

So I know commuting is not ideal, I know driving to work is better than commuting. So all those wanting to give me advice, I appreciate it but I'm looking for actual good advice not the same old "your an idiot if you commute from the West Coast" crowd. I've talked to plenty of friends who are at the airlines now, I know what I'm getting into and there are reasons why I want to commute.

Ok now that we are done with that; my question. I will be at Republic and I will be commuting, I will be commuting from Seattle. My question is what is the best commute. Is it better to commute to a place like MCI that has 4 daily direct flights from SEA with little other commuters to compete with, IND with two flights a day on FedEx where you can reserve the jumpseat 3 weeks ahead of time or trying to get ORD with 16 direct flights a day but a crap load of other commuters. Also knowing that ORD and MCI are super senior captain bases, so not much long term hope there. Just not sure what would be the easiest commute??

direct2entent

Also a Seattle new hire. I bid for IND and am planning to commute at least through the end of IOE and for some amount of reserve if there is any.

greendotplus10

I haven’t commuted between hubs before, but I have deadheaded several times between IAH/ORD/EWR on 737s. Every time, the flights were 100% full, with 10+ on standby. There’s usually other pilots standing around but I know there’s not enough seats for them all. I don’t see how guys can commute on such busy flights all the time. I suspect something like SEA-ORD will be packed full all the time, but it’s worth researching. Passrider.com is one site that will help you with commutability.

That said, my ideal commute is hub to outstation on RJs where the city is large enough to have reliable 121 service, yet not so large that flights frequently become oversold. SEA-MCI or IND isn’t ideal. But I would probably be choosing this over the hub to hub routes I mentioned earlier.

05Duramax

This is what I'm worried about. Also at one point both UAL and AA had crew bases in SEA, I imagine their are a lot of commuters. That being said alot of people make it work. That's why I was thinking the IND base might be a good deal, mainly use FedEx but if not their are a lot of ways to get there (of course all two legs).

05Duramax

When do you start training?

direct2entent

2 months ago

tritofly

Indy is having at least 3 months of reserve for FOs right now. Im maybe looking at a composite for January.

05Duramax

Another question about commuting, if your based in an out station do you normally end your day back at your base or most nights on your line spent out of base? How does this compare with hub bases? I've read on some airlines forums' all the nights on your line are spent out of base?

Thanks!

05Duramax

Forgot to thank you for the constructive advice!

Tigflt17

That is the same in the industry and the name of the game of being a pilot. If it’s a 1 day trip then you end in base of course. Anything else, you’ll end in base on last day